HBO orders a whole lot of 'Westworld' for 2015

Monday afternoon HBO unleashed a flurry of tweets to generate interest in its most recent property, a remake of the 1973 Michael Crichton sci-fi western, "Westworld." (Or maybe it's a remake of the 1980 CBS property "Beyond Westworld"? Probably the first one.)

Posting this cryptic Vine to the HBO account, it was also announced that there will be at least a full season of the sci-fi drama. (Though some cast members have reportedly signed multi-year deals, so hopefully there will be plenty of A.I. shenanigans to come!)

Last year the project was announced to little fanfare, with Jonathan Nolan (co-writer of "The Dark Knight") set to write the pilot with his wife Lisa Joy, as well as direct. At the time, the project was described as a "dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin." For about a year, nothing much more was heard of "Westworld".

Then, this summer, a trickle of announcements came in and the premium channel began production on the series, their first project with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company.

Teasing the upcoming series 'Westworld', HBO released this picture to Twitter followers on Monday.
HBO

The new series stars Anthony Hopkins in his first series-regular role as Dr. Robert Ford, the inventor who runs the "Disneyland for adults" property, which in the film was populated by androids who would later go rogue. In addition, the series will star Oscar-nominee Ed Harris as the as-yet-unnamed villain, James Marsden ("X-Men: Days of Future Past"), Evan Rachel Wood ("True Blood") and Miranda Otto ("The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King").

Check out the original Yul Brynner-bot trailer for Crichton's film below and let us know how tragic or amazing you think this is going to be on HBO.